Implantable drug delivery devices are increasingly used to manage pain, spasticity, cancer, and other medical conditions in patients. Implantable drug delivery devices, also referred to as implantable drug delivery pumps, are currently used to administer therapeutic agents to various locations within the body. Some drug delivery devices have variable volumetric flow rates, adjustable through an external programmer device. Other implantable drug delivery devices have fixed volumetric flow rates, but can be activated and deactivated externally. Still other drug delivery devices have fixed volumetric flow rates and are not adapted to be controlled from outside of the body.
Experienced physicians have begun to administer combinations of two or more drugs. Many physicians choosing to administer drug combinations via implanted programmable pumps use clinical judgment rather than consistent, accurate calculation to determine the daily dose of each drug. Where calculations are done, they may be ad hoc, as they are not supported by either the drug manufacturers or the pump manufacturers.
The physicians administering multiple drugs through the implantable pumps thus use clinical judgment in mixing drugs and filling the implantable pump reservoirs. The physicians choosing the multiple drug route must also often use pump programmer devices designed to administer only a single drug in variable quantities. Specifically, the programmer devices currently assist a treating physician in administering the desired dose of a single drug, but provide no assistance in the proper administration of a mixture of drugs.
What would be desirable is a decision information system for aiding physicians who elect to administer multiple drugs for a given therapy. What would be advantageous are decision information systems to provide physicians with consistent methodologies and feedback to aid the physician in programming drug delivery programmer devices and filling implantable drug reservoirs consistently with the intent of the treating physician.